If you are wondering why your broadband internet slow speed is there, you are not alone. 3 undersea submarine cables have broken down by a ship anchor, slowing internet traffic in 13 countries accross the world.
When Youtube videos get jumpy play speeds, I always check my internet speed at Airtel Broadband Speed test to detect bandwidth speeds and connection quality. If you do not use an Airtel broadband connection, you can try SpeedTest to find you net speed. Since yesterday the internet speed has been half of what I buy (512 Kbps unlimited). Airtel customer support replied that it would be fixed within 48 hours. Apparently the problem is bigger than isolated few users.
Ships Cut Internet Undersea Cables
The affected cables are called Sea Me We 4 (SMW 4), Sea Me We 3 (SMW 3) and FLAG EA run under the sea between Egypt and Italy and carry 90% of all data between Europe and the Middle East. The Times of India reports that Maldives is 100% down, there is an 82% disruption in India; and the cables are expected to be down till the end of the month! Reuters Africa reports that either the anchor of a ship tore the cables or an earthquake.
So it seems the internet speed problem will persist for a few more days for all internet service providers in the region. But considering this is happening the second time now, it highlights the vulnerability of the whole cable system, which can easily be broken by a mere ship anchor and disrupt internet services across a large part of the world!